Member Discussions

So, it looks as though I am finally going to break down an take programming classes in college, and we're learning c++, I'll be starting in the fall, and am wondering which codebases are written in c++? I know diku/circle/smaug/rom/etc were written in c for example, I'm looking for one written in c++. Potentially to play/build, but also just to download an play with and start looking at c++ code an have some idea of what it does, you know?

So.. any suggestions?

I think AFKMUD and Dawn of Time are. But they may have started
off as C.

My suggestion is that, if you're just starting out with C++ (or C), don't look at
mud code first. A lot of it is of pretty poor quality and written by code hackers
who don't really know the language. It may be a boring suggestion, but I'd
suggest learning the language the 'right' way by working through smaller pieces
of code and gradually building up to larger systems. Then, when you're
confident in the language, take a look at some mud code. You'll be in a much
better position to tackle the code, improve the weaker areas, etc.

For me, I "learned" C by looking at mud code, but really wish I had gone the
proper route first. It likely took me far longer to learn C by hacking through
Circle than it would have been by working through a book, since that old Diku-
style code was long in the tooth even when I was learning it (around 15 years
ago). Since then, I've learned every other language I know by starting small,
learning the foundations, and building up. That's a much smarter and more
efficient route, in my opinion.

My suggestion is that, if you're just starting out with C++ (or C), don't look at
mud code first. A lot of it is of pretty poor quality and written by code hackers
who don't really know the language.

I would disagree.. not with the poor quality coding, there's plenty of that, but in the learning. I have half a dozen C books but I find the reading route to be boring in the extreme. One of the most important ingredients in learning is enjoying while you learn, and I've had a lot of fun working hands-on with the code. I wouldn't have learned to code a language like C if it weren't for MUDs.
I do not discount books entirely, because they are often a reference for creating better code, taking shortcuts that aren't present in old MUD code. I would advocate you use both MUD code and books.

Back to the first topic, most MUDs are programmed in C, which is not all that different from C++ outside terms of memory allocation, standard I/O syntax and functions in structures. It's perfectly acceptable to use knowledge from a C++ class and code reasonably in C. Conversion is something else entirely.

-tG

I think AFKMUD and Dawn of Time are.
But they may have started
off as C.

Both DIKU derivatives, so both definitely started off as C.
not sure how completely they were converted to C++ though.

You could look at SocketMUD (download page -> http://www.socketmud.dk/download.php)

I'm not familiar with it's working, but it's relatively recent, written in C, and the guy who wrote it has "ported"
it to C++ and Java (albeit with less features than the original).

Here's a load of mud servers written in C++
I did a port of MercMud to C++ called Murk++ which you can find here.
It does make use of several C++ features like STL, and a partial refactoring of the original C
to a more object-oriented design.